A announcement has been made for the Aston Martin Vantage to be recalled globally due to a fault resulting from a transmission software update.
Aston Martin Vantage models recalled were produced between June 2010 and September 2013. These are models with the Sportshift I or Sportshift II automated manual transmissions.
Apparently, Chinese owners were the first to complain about their cars losing power in 2014. Complaints also surrounded power loss in the steering and braking systems. Aston Martin later sent engineers to investigate. It turned out that dealers did not reset the clutch position after a gearbox software update. When installing the new code, dealers needed to show the computer the proper engagement position for the clutch, but didn’t.
Andy Palmer, Aston Martin CEO, is reported to have told Reuters, “Normally recalls start in America. I don’t think it is the only example, but it’s interesting that it started from China and became a global recall.” He went on to say, “It demonstrates the importance of China, the sophistication of the customer and the diligence of the authorities there.”
Meanwhile, Aston Martin execs are taking the hit for this one, as they should have explicitly mentioned within the service plan for the software that the clutch was to be “re-taught”. Because this was not done, Palmer has supposedly said they will take responsibility for fixing it.
The British automaker had a major recall in 2014, which was also linked back to China. Nearly 18,000 cars that were produced since 2014 had to be repaired due to counterfeit Chinese products. A Chinese sub-supplier sold counterfeit plastic for a component to Aston Martin. No accidents or injuries were reported.
Sources are conflicted on the numbers, but, it is estimated that less than 2000 Aston Martin Vantage units will need to be corrected.
